Third and fourth Turf Boys arrested

Residents say the eastside Savannah gang is responsible for numerous crimes in the city.

Posted: Thursday, April 28, 2005

Police have tracked down all four gang members tied to a string of shootings in eastside Savannah.

Tarus Malike Green, 16, was arrested on a warrant for aggravated assault and taken to the Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center on Thursday.

Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Police picked up Green after receiving a tip that he was hiding out at a house in the 1100 block of East 34th Street, police spokesman Bucky Burnsed said.

Then shortly before 9 p.m., they arrested 19-year-old Corey "Lil Murder" Milton at the Day's Inn at the corner of Abercorn and Mercy Boulevard.

Milton, who was wanted for theft by receiving a stolen auto, was in possession of marijuana at the time of his arrest, Burnsed said.

Police say Green, Milton and two fellow Turf Boys who were already in custody are responsible for an April 6 shooting in the 700 block of 37th Street and a shooting later that same night at Live Oak Street and Seiler Avenue.

Damien Armead Gaines, 17, and Lyeron Jamart Rice, 20, turned themselves in Wednesday. Both are being held at the Chatham County jail on charges of aggravated assault, Burnsed said.

The four suspects also are tied to an April 12 shooting at Treat and Mississippi avenues, police said.

The shootings sent three teenage men to Memorial Health University Medical Center.

All three of the shootings involved a stolen Ford Taurus, police said.

Police may file additional charges, Burnsed said.

During Green's arrest Thursday morning, officers from the Career Offender Tracking Unit, Sgt. Gregory Ernst and K-9 Bruno showed up at the East 34th Street house.

Someone else answered the door and let the police in.

Police then released Bruno, who found Green.

"Bruno convinced him it was in his best interest not to resist," Burnsed said.

Burnsed said detectives also are investigating the four suspects' possible connection to several reports of shots fired; however, they are unsure what other criminal activity the Turf Boys are involved in.

Green has been in the Chatham County jail four times in the past five months on various charges, according to Sgt. Tommy Tillman, spokesman for the Chatham County Sheriff's Department. That's because Green, who is 16 and therefore a juvenile, told police that he was 17, Tillman said.

Taylor Brush had his East Park Avenue home broken into by Green in October, he said. Green was accused of taking some spare keys, and then coming back for Brush's car and motor scooter. Brush and his wife have since moved.

Gretchen Ernest and her husband, Tom Hoffman, have been calling police about the Turf Boys since 2001, she said. About a dozen boys in red T-shirts, sometimes shirts that said "Turf Boys - Henry and Duffy 4-ever," would sell drugs in the Victorian District almost every night, Ernest said.

Several Turf Boys held up the couple and four friends when they were walking to a restaurant one night. The gang members pointed a gun at them and ordered the group to "get out of the neighborhood," Ernest said.

Ernest said she repeatedly called police and rarely got a response. The couple even wrote letters to Chief Dan Flynn, who told them there were no gangs in Savannah, according to Ernest.

"We basically moved because of them - because they were there all the time," she added. "We got tired of fighting it."

Burnsed said he is not aware of any prior problems with the Turf Boys.

"From what I'm being told by detectives, there were four whole members of this gang, and (all) of them are in jail," he said.